PATRIOTS: 'D' now earning a passing grade

Thursday

A liability through most of the team's first four games, the Patriots defense reached the midpoint of the season on an upward trend

FOXBORO – Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia says there are different measuring points over the course of an NFL season.

“I think what’s great, our guys understand there’s different points of the year where we always try to increase and step up our level of play,” Patricia said Wednesday. “Certainly, the halfway point is one. Coming out of September is another one. Thanksgiving is another big one for us.

“So that’s all we’re pushing for is just trying to make sure that we’re improving each week and showing some consistency in what we do. It’s hard. Week in, week out, we see different offenses, different challenges come up, different players that are a problem, different quarterbacks, so with all those variables that come into effect and then try to see some consistency and some improvement week in, week out, is the biggest challenge for us.”

That being the case, there’s no question that Patricia’s defense hit the halfway point of the regular season, which also happens to be the team’s bye week, trending upward.

The 51 points the Patriots surrendered over the past four games represent a dramatic improvement from the 128 they got torched for over the first four. It’s no coincidence that the team has won four straight games.

“It really comes down to consistency and us being on the same page all the time, not one guy playing one coverage and the other 10 guys playing another,” safety Duron Harmon said following the Patriots’ most recent victory, last Sunday’s 21-13 win over the Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium. “It’s everybody on the same page, everybody communicating, everybody talking, everybody’s playing with good energy, playing fast and physical and tackling. And that’s really what’s changed and what’s helped us the last few weeks.”

The most recent effort was all the more impressive when one considers that the defense was missing linebacker Dont’a Hightower (who recently underwent surgery for a right pectoral tear) and cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore (concussion/ankle) and Eric Rowe (groin). The major loss, of course – and it is long ranging – is Hightower with his ability to play middle linebacker and rush from the edge, all the while wearing the green dot on his helmet as the signal caller on defense.

“We can’t replace ‘High.’ (He’s a) crucial part of the defense,” safety Devin McCourty said. “But I thought guys stepped up as a whole. It wasn’t one guy. It was everyone playing fundamentally sound and playing good football.”

While it’s true that no one player can fill Hightower’s void, linebacker Kyle Van Noy came the closest to mimicking the six-year veteran in the win over the Chargers.

Van Noy shared the team lead in tackles with six, one for a loss, and broke up a pass while playing all 56 of the team’s defensive snaps and wearing the green dot.

Acquired in a deal with Detroit as the trade deadline approached a year ago, Van Noy has found himself a home in New England as evidenced by the two-year contract extension the Patriots signed him to earlier this season.

“Kyle’s done a great job for us of (assuming multiple roles),” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said. “He’s showed a lot of versatility, leadership, done a great job as a signal caller with the defense.

“He’s been a real valuable player for us in a multiple number of roles. He’s been excellent.”

The performance may not have been perfect, but after looking embarrassingly vulnerable on an 87-yard touchdown jaunt by Melvin Gordon less than nine minutes into the game the defense settled down to shut down the Chargers until Philip Rivers found wide receiver Travis Benjamin for a 24-yard scoring strike with 8:30 to go (when cornerback Malcolm Butler’s reaction indicated he had a communication issue with McCourty).

Remove Gordon’s first-quarter TD from the equation and the Patriots limited the Chargers to 20 carries for 70 yards, a 3.5-yard average. Beaten for more than 300 yards in each of the first six games, the Patriots held a second straight passer well below that number, Rivers throwing for just 212.

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